Homemade. Mods of tower

Finally, after long months of research, I finally found a 12m small tower very light with 4 sections of 3m.. But must be modified.
Especially the reinforcement which was not strong enough to support a beam 11 el. HF and an el. 6m.
Redoing the arc welding after more than 30 years is not easy. But with a few tries, the helping hand came back!
As soon as the reinforcement is finished, with spacers and braces, I will try to install a sliding trolley along this tower.
More info soon !! I can not wait to be QRV ...

27 August 2017 two sections done

The Top Before

The Top Finished

Beam HF 5 bands interlaced

On the bench… Construction of a Beam HF 5 bands
Inspired by JK Antenna (JK NAVASSA-5) & Optibeam (OB11-5)
(Updated on time... More development & measurements later)

July 2016: 9 Elements, 5 Bands / Multiband Yagi 10, 12, 15, 17 & 20 meters on a 5,1m boom.

August 2016: I added 2 more el. as 11 Elements, 5 Bands / Multiband Yagi that interlaces 10, 12, 15, 17 & 20 meters on a 6m Boom.
73's de ZS1II

Balun 1:1   -   2 x FT-240-61 core

Modification U bolt, before and after !

Transmission Lines & Balun Assembly

Navy radio room clock

Nostalgia? I made my own replica, copy of an old Navy radio room clock...
Just for the pleasure of seeing again a Navy radio room clock like that in my Ham shack.

 Marine distress frequencies:
Red:  3 and 9 positions indicate that there must be a radio silence on the frequency of 500 KHz, 15-18 and 45-48 minutes
Green:  12 and 6 positions indicate that there must be a radio silence on the frequency 2182 kHz 0-3 and 30-33 minutes.
                                                                             Was something like this

Added new kienzle quartz clock movement

Made a new ``laminated `` dial clock

                                                                        Painting and that it!

Windfreak SynthNV

Windfreak SynthNV     RF Signal Generator / Power Detector Combo

I finally found a small RF generator that could replace the monsters I was using.
The Windfreak SynthNV  34.4MHz to 4.4GHz software tunable RF signal generator.
It weight only a few grams and fits easily in the hand.
 Characteristics of this gem.
        • RF sweep generator (34.4 MHz to 4.4 GHz up to 19 dBm output)
        • Network Analyzer (34.4 MHz to 4.4 GHz)
        • ROS analyzer (using the external power coupler)
        • RF power meter (real time)
        • and more to discover
With some other small gadgets, I’m sure to have good time in the laboratory and in the field.

Better than a long speech, here a excellent Video of Adam VK4GHZ for return loss on a 23cm yagi antenna.

SMD PCB examination soldering

As my vision began to decline (Hi), for circuits with SMD soldering and examination components,and microscopes are a bit expensive ...
I tried a web camera video to see more on the side of the circuit ..
I found it at a local store for 170 rand ($ 24) this little wonder.
Reduce altitude and look at the pictures. Not bad eh!

The wonder…                                         On support

Full screen on laptop                                              OK for me